But that's just weasel-words to get around the real issue: Ubisoft have added a dependency on a component which is otherwise completely unrelated to the game. Sure, it's not the end of the world if you can't play the game at some point. Neither is a particularly realistic proposition. The only way to achieve that is to have a connection that is either ALWAYS up 24x7 with 100% reliability or otherwise is only down when you don't want to play the game.
It only matters if it happens to be down when you want to play the game. Because most of the time you're not trying to play a game that requires the internet connection. The thing is, it doesn't matter if it's up 99.99999999999% of the time. True, time will tell on this one, but I doubt it will be long before Ubisoft make the decision to take the same route as EA by rolling back DRM - well, that or their stock will tank and the company will go under. I can't say I've seen a grass roots boycott take off, but when you shit on your customers you essentially force the boycott through ineptitude. In essence, what Ubisoft here has done is given people a real reason to boycott their products in a major way. I doubt the team that programs the game even has anything to do the team programming the DRM other than having to somehow work it into their product. Unfortunately the people who make decisions about protecting profits aren't exactly technologically proficient, let alone able to understand the intricacies in a global network like the internet. I know that's a bit off topic, but it seems to me that warning signs like that dictate that moving down a server authentication method for a single player game is fucking stupid. If the servers were hosted locally (ie, in Australia, where I am from) we'd still be able to connect, but due to international routing problems no one in Australia was able to play. Hell, if there's problems at higher tier routing you're probably going to be screwed anyway. There's no way that an home user can afford five nines internet access, so even if it isn't the authentication server end that's a problem, well, you're screwed anyway.
If people don't wake up and smell the coffee on this one we'll all be bent over a barrel with every new game release from now on.
#AUTHENTICATION SERVERS ARE DOWN ON MY SERVER OFFLINE#
Our own senior entertainment editor Andrew Webster reported struggling with the platform, which was telling many players, “You do not have permission to play Fortnite.” The company started investigating the issue at around 11AM ET, before the servers went offline entirely a couple of hours later.It's just amusing that it's so close to the release that we've seen it happen. The Fortnite Status Twitter eventually tweeted to confirm the game is back up, promising that next week (or, next year) there will be details on “what we’re doing to help you make up for lost time.” It also noted some people might see an extra in-game present to open, but said the team is working on that.
ruLmG4xHgk- Fortnite Status December 29, 2021Ī follow-up tweet at 3:10PM ET from the team said they were “continuing to work on a fix that will bring Fortnite back online and appreciate everyone’s patience.” As of 6PM ET, we hadn’t heard anything since, but at around 6:30PM ET players reported the game was working again, which we have been able to confirm. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we worked to resolve these issues and we’ll have more details next week on what we’re doing to help you make up for lost time. Fortnite game servers are back online and the Winterfest continues! ❄️